BS EN 388:1994 download free.Protective gloves against mechanical risks.
1 Scope
BS EN 388 is applicable to all kinds of protective gloves with regards to physical and mechanical aggressions caused by abrasion, blade cut, puncture, tear and impact cut. BS EN 388 is not applicable to antivibration gloves.
2 Normative references
BS EN 388 incorporates by dated or undated reference, provisions from other publications. These normative references are cited at the appropriate places in the text and the publications are listed hereafter. For dated references, subsequent amendments to or revisions of any of these publications apply to BS EN 388 only when incorporated in it by amendment or revision. For undated references the latest edition of the publication referred to is applied.
EN 420, General requirements for gloves.
3 Definitions
For the purposes of BS EN 388 the following definitions apply.
3.1
equal protection
a glove that is constructed of the same uniform material or materials throughout, and is so constructed as to provide a uniform degree of protection over the whole hand area
3.2
specific protection
a glove that is constructed to provide an area of improved protection for a part of the hand
3.3
glove series
a single glove style or glove type with the same palm material up to the wrist line where the only variants are size, leftJright hand, colour or sewing pattern
3.4
volume resistance
the quotient of a direct voltage applied between two electrodes in contact with opposite faces of a test piece, and the current between the electrodes after one or more specified periods of electrification, excluding current along the surface. Possible polarization phenomena at the electrodes are ignored
5.4 If the test is performed in a different environment, it shall be started within 5 mm after removal from the conditioning.
5.5 If special applications require testing in a different environment, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer or his authorized representative to perform additional tests and to present the full results including a full description of the testing environment in leaflets and brochures.
6 Test methods
6.1 Abrasion resistance
6.1.1 Principle
Circular specimens of material are abraded under known pressure with a cyclic planar motion in the form of a Lissajous figure which is the result of the simple harmonic motions at right angles to each other.
The resistance to abrasion is measured by the number of cycles required for breakthrough to occur. Breakthrough is understood to mean when a hole is worn through the test specimen.
In case the test specimen is made of several unbonded layers, the test is performed on each layer, and the classification is based on the sum of the number of cycles.
6.1.2 Abradant
The abradant shall meet the following specifications:
a) Backing: The backing should be of a suitable
quality paper with a minimum weight of 125 gm2 ±5 %
b) Adhesive: The adhesive may be water soluble, of good quality and suitable for purpose
c) Abrasive: The glass used shall be of good quality, suitable for purpose and shall meet the sieve analysis requirements given in Table 3.
At each examination, both the test specimens and the abradant shall be cleaned by clean pressured air.
If a breakthrough is found when examining the test specimens at a given level, the classification will be at the preceding inferior level.
6.1.6 Expression of results
The lowest level of the four specimens will be recorded.
6.2 Blade cut resistance
6.2.1 Equipment
The equipment (see Figure 1) consists of:
a) a test bench providing an alternating horizontal movement to a circular, rotating blade. The horizontal movement is 50 mm long and the blade rotates completely in the opposite direction to its movement. The resulting sinusoidal maximum cutting speed of the blade is at maximum 10 cm/s.
b) a mass applied to the blade resulting in a force of 5 N.
c) a circular bIade3 with a diameter of 45 mm, a thickness of 0,3 mm and a total cutting angle of 30° to 35° (see Figure 1). The blade shall be in tungsten steel with Vickers Hardness of 740 to 800.
d) a support of conductive rubber [hardness (80 ± 3) IHRD] on which the test specimen is placed.
e) a clamping frame for the test specimen as described in Figure 1.
an automatic system to detect the moment of cut-through.
g) a cycle counter calibrated to one tenth of a cycle.
6.2.2 Test specimen
a) It consists of a strip of 80 mm wide and at least 100 mm long taken from the palm area of the gloves, and cut on the bias. In the case of several unbonded layers, these layers are tested together.
b) For each glove series two test specimens will be taken.
b) after the residual charge check, close switch Si, leaving switches S2 and S3 unaltered;
c) depending on the characteristics of the instrument and power supply, choose a safe range on the current measuring instrument:
d) operate switch S2 to connect the high voltage electrode to the high voltage supply;
e) after a few seconds, open switch Si:
0 select a suitable range on the current measuring instrument and note the current I after 1 mm electrification;
g) if I’ is not a significant proportion of!, proceed straight to the operation described in h). If I’ is a significant proportion of I, the test is invalid; in this case carry out the operation described in j) and leave the test specimen between the electrodes. After a suitable time interval for I’ to become negligible [checked by carrying out the operations described in a) and b)] repeat the operations from the beginning;
h) after taking the last reading described in 0 operate switch S3 to connect the guard ring to the low voltage supply;
i) note whether the operation described in h) causes a significant change in the measured current;
j) connect all electrodes to earth by operating switch Si first, then by moving switches S2 and S3 to earth:
k) if the current changed significantly in the operation described in h) there is a serious leakage of current either from the lead from the guarded electrode or across the surface of the test specimen. To check leakage on the lead, disconnect that lead from the test specimen and leave it hanging free in the air. Set the current measuring instrument to the last range used in l) open switch SI and switch S3 to the low voltage (the position of S2 during these operations is immaterial). Any serious leakage on the lead will then be indicated by a significant continous reading. If the leakage on the lead is negligible, carefully clean the gap between the guard ring and the guarded electrode and repeat the operations a) to d). If the current still changes significantly in the operation described in h), the test is invalid and the surface resistivity is probably so low relative to the volume resistivity that the volume resistivity is of little practical significance.
7 Marking
7.1 General
Marking of the protective glove shall be in accordance with 7.2 of EN 420:1994 together with the pictogram for mechanical risk.
7.2 Pictograms
The mechanical properties of the glove shall be shown by one pictogram followed by four numbers. The first number identifies the performance level for abrasion resistance. The second, the blade cut; the third, the tear and the fourth, the puncture resistance levels (as shown in Table 1).
If the performance level is below the minimum value shown in column 1, the number shown will be0.
Two specific pictograms shall be used for:
impact cut resistance;
anti-static properties.
8 Instructions for use
Instructions for use shall be in accordance with 7.2 of EN 420:1994.
Users should note that for gloves with two or more non-bonded layers the overall classification does not necessarily reflect the performance of the outermost layer.